A Little Dish of Texas Tradition

Blackeyed peas have long been a tradition for the New Year's table. They supposedly bring good luck for the coming year, and eating them shows "humility". Some Southerners have been rumored to eat one pea for each day of the year to insure good fortune! They are a humble food, therefore, eating them represents humility.
This is a tasty way to incorporate black-eyed peas into a New Year's celebration:
Texas Caviar from Southern Living 2001 Annual Recipes (given to me by Jen Miller)
2 (15.5 ounce) cans Black-eyed peas with jalapeno peppers, rinsed and drained
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomato and green chiles (Rotel)
2 avacados, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1/2 purple onion, diced
3/4 cup zesty Italian salad dressing
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice (this makes the dip for me)
1/4 teaspoon salt (try it without it first)

Stir together all ingredients. Cover and chill, if desired. Serve with corn or tortilla chips. Yields 6 cups!

Another successful Cookie Swap

Yesterday was our second annual MOPS Cookie Swap! Most of you know I coordinate the MOPS program at our church. MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers and it is an international group. Anyway, I had about a third of our group over to our house yesterday which is about 12 people and all their kiddos! It was hectic fun. We drank coffee and cocoa and sampled cookies and candies. We each took home about three dozen. This is my tray afterwards. It's a little picked over:)
The kids decorated sugar cookies and played outside! It was 75 yesterday! That's Texas for you! Never sure what you're going to get. I almost turned up the AC so that we'd be in the mood to drink hot drinks :) Nothing like a white Christmas!

Smiles in the Morning

I love getting my son up every morning. The best part of being a mom is the unconditional love that you get, just because you're mommy. Every morning I go into Chase's room and am greeted by his 1000 watt smile. It makes my day. I'm enjoying these precious moments because I know soon, it will get complicated...:)

Almost mobile...

Chaser is almost crawling now! He can spin around on his belly and inch himself forward. The other night I caught him under the Christmas tree trying to open his presents! It won't be long until he is completely mobile and I'm in BIG trouble!

Trip to MI and the Wedding

Hi Everyone- time for me to play catch up! It's always hectic this time of year! We had a great trip to Indianapolis for Joe and Jen's wedding and then a wonderful time in Michigan visiting family and friends like www.cindy50.blogspot.com! Cadence was one of the flower girls at Joe and Jen's wedding and I got to stand up with them as a bridesmaid. They don't have the pix back yet but when they get some, we'll post them. Cady slept with pillow rollers in her hair so her hair would be curly.
The wedding was beautiful! It was a unique wedding in a good way and everyone had a great time.
Ahhhh, two down, one to go!

The bride and bridesmaids get ready...

Yeah, is it time for the honeymoon yet?

I also had a chance to catch up with family like a cousin-in-law that I had barely met and some other cousins that I don't get a chance to see often enough and my aunt and uncle and grandpa and grandma and brother. It was a lot of fun. AFter the wedding, the me and the kids stayed with grandpa and grandma Tanner for a night and that was great!
Then we went to Josh's sister's house and the kids got to meet their cousins. It was the first time most of our families had seen Chase.

Cadence and her cousin Cydney.
We spent almost a week with Grandpa and Grandma W. and visited Josh's sister and her family, saw Josh's aunt and uncle and their kids and Granpa and Grandma S. We had fun and hated to go.

Trip to MI

Hi All- Most of you know me and the kids will be in Michigan after Joe's wedding November 11th. If I haven't made plans to see you and you want to see me and the kids, call my cellphone!

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for Grandpa Shellhouse-Josh's grandpa. We just found out he has an anuerism below his heart. We are waiting to hear if it is operable. Pray that Josh can get some time off to go to Michigan with me. Pray pray pray please
UPDATE: Grandpa's tests shows that the anuerism is too small to operate on right now so he has been instructed to go about his normal activities and will have a check up in six months! Thanks for your prayers!

A real stinker

Chase was dressed as a skunk for our church's Family Fun Festival.
This is him last night.

Why Mom?















Just wait until I'm old enough to dress myself...

















At the festival.

Sweetberry Farms

There is a berry patch about an hour from us. In the fall they sell pumpkins, gourds, jams, potatoes, etc. They also do pumpkin painting, scarecrow stuffing and hayrides. I organized a trip for MOPS and some of us went together. Afterwards we enjoyed lunch at Bluebonnet Cafe, a 76 year old Texan restaurant with award winning homemade pies and chicken fried steak.

Cadence and Tyler washing pumpkins.











Farm cat running away from the kids.















Something worth fighting for...








Turtle.....Turtle.... Chase in his turtle shell.











A smile between the pouting...





































Why am I not in bed?













Cadence and her friend Tyler.

Things around the house...

I went to our once a month scrapping meeting on Friday where we scrap from 6-midnight. It got me thinking about preserving memories so I went around this week just taking pictures of normal things we were doing. I HATE scrapbooking by the way. I don't have the time to make these gorgeous pages for one or two pictures. Maybe I'm just mad because I thought I'd be really good at it and I'm not so much or maybe it's because I just can't seem to get things organized or decide what I want to scrap and what I want to put in albums or maybe (this is what I think it is) it's because it's a guilt hobby. Everyone is so into scrapbooking that they make you feel like if you're not scrapbooking all the precious memories, you're not a good mom. Come on, what did we do before scrapbooking? I'm just happy we have pictures. Maybe I'll get organized and caught up and then feel a little better about scrapbooking. It's just soooo expensive and time-consuming and ughhhhh. Everyone knows I only go to scrapbooking for the food anyway. I do get some scrapping done. Just not as much as I could....
Anyway, I almost got lost down that rabbit trail. So, I took pictures of normal things. Cady coming out of her room with a headband on all funny, cooking, laughing etc.

This week I cooked 28 meals doing Once A Month Cooking. We got a freezer so we're filling it up. I got halfway through Chase's skunk costume.
I went to Lampasas and bought some goat milk with the intentions of starting Chase on goat milk formula. I gave it to him straight which I guess you're not supposed to do so I cleaned up projectile goat milk vomit all weekend. Have you ever smelled goat milk upchuck? Don't. It smells like Feta cheese. So disgusting. Anyway, you're supposed to mix in some things to the goat milk to make it more easily assimilated. It's closer to human milk in its make-up and I buy it raw so there are still the live enzymes in it which is good for the colon. Since I'm not breastfeeding anymore due to so many problems, I will be making the formula from now on. The iron in Enfamil clogs the poor little guy up.
Cadence loves to help vacuum.

Hmmmm....

A 17-year-old girl just came by to try to sell some overpriced junk for a fundraiser. I asked her if she was selling stationery? She said "what's stationery? I've never heard that word before." Wow.... Even after explaining to her what stationery is she still maintained that she had never heard that word. This is a senior in high school people! I think I was learning how to spell stationery and stationary in THIRD grade!!!! Sorry, just wanted to rant a little bit.

The best dress-up closet ever

In this room, the kids could dress up in clothes, hats and shoes from all over the world.

Pioneerin'

Cadence and Elizabeth makin' music the pioneer way












Raegan milkin'

Even Chase...

A Good Time Was Had By All

Cadence and Raegan looking at the Guinea Pigs














This is Cadence dressed as the Fire Chief















Beatrice, Elizabeth and Cadence look at the turtle that Sue is holding















Cadence pets the turtle while Pop-Pop holds it















The whole gang: Top: Beatrice Second row: LtoR Raegan, Cadence, Elizabeth
Third row: Sydnie, Sarah, Tyler Bottom: Chase

Cadence's Birthday Party

On Saturday, Cadence had a birthday party with some of her friends. We invited some people to Waco to go to the Mayborn Children's Museum. This is where we celebrated her 2nd birthday but fortunately, she has no recollection of that. Even if she did, I'm sure she wouldn't mind going a dozen more times. So, we all met at the Children's Museum and the kids had soooo much fun. It's a very hands on museum. They can touch everything! We had so much fun! After 3 and half hours of museum, we went back to mom and dad's apartment and the kids swam. Can you imagine? In October? But it is warm enough. Then we had hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill with potato salad, deviled eggs, chips, cheesy puffs, soda and of course, cake and ice cream. The kids had a great time and it was a real joy trying to keep them away from the pool after they had all eaten!
Cadence received some wonderful presents. She got 3 new outfits for her dress up Dora doll (and we still have two in reserve for Christmas-they were on clearance at Walmart), a book called The Princess and the Kiss, Curious George the Movie, a Little Mermaid pen, a bottle of Mermaidia bubble bath, a book called Goodnight Emily, a body poof, a purple crown, purple tutu and flower that she wears like wings, Dora Chutes and Ladders, and Bubbles. I think I remembered everything. She really had a great time! It was such a happy birthday! The day after her real birthday, she got shots.... owwww. Poor girl! She did pretty well and 3 Bugs Bunny bandaids, two sugar-free suckers and and icecream cone later...oh, and a healthy dose of Tylenol, she's good as new. Here are some of the great pictures we got.
Below is the cake I decorated. Cadence kept changing her mind on the kind of cake she wanted. First it was chocolate with blue frosting then white with pink frosting so this one is confetti cake with all kinds of different colors. I thought it turned out ok for an amatuer.

Birth Certificate DRAMA

Some of you know the ongoing fiasco that is the fight for Chase's birth certificate. My midwife filed the birth record at Lampasas County Courthouse within 10 days of his birth. I checked all the info, it was correct. A couple of months later, when I requested a copy of his birth certificate so that I could get his social, someone called me to tell me that there was no information that matched my son's name and birthdate. She wasn't supposed to tell me but apparently his name was entered Chase Joy (My middle name) and his birthdate as the 26th instead of the 24th. She said she would send me an amendment form. When that arrived I saw that I was required to pay almost $40 for an amendment in addition to the $22 I had already paid. I decided to pursue it since it wasn't my fault...
First I called Vital Stistics again. They said they don't make any changes at their location and it must be the County Clerk. Then I talked to my mid-wife. She said to try Lampasas County Courthouse. We assumed it was their fault because they don't normally file birth records since there is no hospital in this county. I finally went down there and told them the problem. They showed me the info they had which was correct. They called the Vital Statistics agency and someone there told them to have me write a letter about what happened. I did that, then received a phone call from Vital Statistics to check with the hospital ( there is no hospital) because they must have filed it wrong. NOT! I called Vital Statistics again and told them that if our information was correct, it had to be on their end. They again insisted that they do not enter any information and it had to be Lampasas. I told them that they were wrong and could it be a data entry error? Hmmm, maybe so. Let me check with my supervisor. Ten minutes later they called me back and told me a new copy was on its way and I was required to send the old piece back. So, for the first 6 months of my son's life, his name has been Chase Joy.... There's one for the memory books...
So, in 4-6 weeks, we might be eligible to file for his social security card. Super!

Brushing my hair will make me feel better

Yesterday, Cady came into my room looking mildly unhappy. I asked her, "What's wrong?" She said, "my prince died." (She was dressed in one of her princess dresses) I stuffed the urge to laugh and instead asked, "well, what are you going to do?" She said, "I just need to brush my hair. I just need to go to my castle."

Whatever makes you feel better!

Hands free baby feeding

Look, I can hold the bottle with my chin! Poor Chase gets his sister's pink bottle hand-me-down! She never took a bottle so I couldn't throw away a brand-new bottle!

And the biggest news?

Josh got a job! He had put in a resume at a company that does contract work on FT. Hood almost a year ago. They emailed him and basically hired him over the phone. The hours are great. The drive is easy. The money is amazing. We're busy budgeting and picking out health insurance... fun... Anyway, he loves it. He started two weeks ago.

What Else Is New?

1. Mom and Dad sold the condo. Dad moved everything down here last weekend. Mom moved out and into an apartment with Dad in Waco.
2. Chase moved into his own room.
3. MOPS started.

I wasn't doing anything....

Mini Mohawk Man

I really don't think it's fair that Chase now has more hair on his head at 5 months than Cady did at a year old!

Anna's Eye

I had my 6 week follow up appointment for my eye on Sept. 1st. The doctor said the first injection had worked so well I didn't need another one! They took some photos to make sure and then called me later on to tell me they'd like to see me in Austin to do some more test. The doctor noticed some staining in the back of my eye whatever that means. All I know is that my vision is almost back to normal!!!! Thank you Jesus!

Ear Infection B Gone!

I treated Chase's ear infection with garlic drops instead of amoxicillin and the doctor gave him a clean bill of health at the 2 week check up! He is now 19lbs. 3 oz.

Muki, you're about to be the coachman.

Cady and her friend "Little Sarah" were playing Cinderella in the living room. Aren't they cute?

Sitting up

A few days before Chase turned five months old, he started sitting up on his own.

Cinderella goes to a birthday party!

Cadence had so much fun being Cinderella that she wanted to wear the dress to church the next day. I let her. You're only 3 years old for a little while. She loves playing dress up. She also has a Snow White dress and I'm working on a Sleeping Beauty dress. Should be done by Halloween...

Little Bro Joe is Engaged!

Joe, my little brother got engaged August 1st? I think. They are getting married on November 11! Cadence is going to be a flower girl and I'm going to stand up with them. I guess I'm a bridesmaid? Never been in a wedding before, except mine and I didn't wear a dress. Anyway, Jen, Joe's fiance, flew out to meet us (we'd never met) August 10 and stayed for almost a week. She got to go to the MOPS retreat with me and I really enjoyed getting to know her. She's a GREAT girl and God really used her in my life in just that little time she was here. Joe didn't think it was very funny when I called his cell phone and asked to talk to Jen:) To read about their stories, visit www.stolzwedding.com

Feeeeeed Meeeee!

The boy started solids August 3rd. He has liked everything so far except brocolli. He's had rice cereal, green peas and sweet potatoes.

Catch UP!

Hi All- I know it's been a long time. I'll back track and update on everything so bear with us if you have already heard all this.

Cadence's Imagination

Cadence has started carrying her imaginary pets around with her. She always has a closed fist and when you ask her what she has in her hand she says, "puppies." She puts them down by the sink when she washes her hands or asks you to hold them for her. She always has them! They're yellow and blue, she says. So amazing...

Chase's First Doctor Appointment

Chase had to go to the doctor today. He has an ear infection, poor little guy. He's so good, even when he has an ear infection. He also now weighs in at a whopping 18 pounds. What a doll! He's so cute!